Sorry, I changed the title of the story, if you're confused. I felt like I should break free from the old version of the story and basically just start anew...

Warning: Lot's of dialogue...

On with the story!

"Baa-chan! Sakura-chan is gone!" Naruto screamed as he madly sprinted into Tsunade's office. Currently in a meeting with her advisors, the Hokage cursed under her breath once Naruto's words registered. I should have seen this coming.

"I apologize for the inconvenience, but I must cut this meeting short." The advisors grumbled and griped, but didn't protest when she unceremoniously shooed them out of the room. As soon as the office door clicked shut, Naruto continued on.

"She's not anywhere! No training grounds, and her apartment is empty!" Tsunade shot him a sharp-eyed look.

"How empty?" she asked shrewdly.

Naruto seemed to hesitate, but he replied, "Not a weapon left behind. Her storage scrolls are all gone, along with some medical books. And…" Unwilling to say more in case it would compromise Sakura's situation, he trailed off.

"Her mother's yukata and father's swords are missing as well." Kakashi slipped through the open window. "It seems that it's 'darling Sakura-chan's' turn to defect from the village."

"Kaka-sensei!" Naruto stopped his greeting short, ignoring Kakashi's exasperated glare at the nickname. "Wait, you looked through her stuff? Perv!"

"At this point," Kakashi objected with a weary sigh, "every one of her possessions are considered evidence against her desertion–"

"Wait, no! Sakura-chan would never leave willingly! She loves Sasuke-teme!" Both adults shot Naruto incredulous looks, but he disregarded them admiringly stubbornly. "We need to go look for her! Now!"

"There's no point, Naru–"

"I'm off, Baa-chan, Kaka-sensei! It's just the same as last time with Sasuke, right? I'll definitely bring her back!" Before Tsunade or Kakashi could protest, he disappeared.

"Perfect," Naruto muttered as he leapt towards the ANBU training complex. Finally, my acting skills are coming in handy, he chortled to himself. "Now, to find Kiba and Sai and Lee." Looking off into the distance, he held out a thumbs up. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan! I won't let them find you!"

Fifty miles into the forest, and there was still no sign of Sakura's target. However, despite the severity of defection weighing on her physically, her mind felt freer than it had been for years.

She leapt from tree to tree, still keeping up the same steady pace from that morning. It had taken around three hours to reach this point, and she would continue this pace to ensure that she left the country before she had the chance to be caught.

She was just planning on approaching her target a different way when, unexpectedly, she felt a twinge of chakra, just on the edge of her thirty-mile-range. From the signals she was picking up, the source had been trying to hide the traces, to no avail.

Thirty miles away and gaining ground quick...pursuers already?

She trusted Naruto to keep them off her trail, but to be safe she started to change directions calculatingly haphazardly every few hundred feet. Although this method would cause her to lose ground and possibly overtax her body, it would delay her trackers for as long as she needed to pinpoint her target and leave the country.

After another few minutes of zigzagging all through the forest, re-laying and overlapping her own trails, she determined that she would be safe for the time being and stopped at the edge of a quiet clearing. Finding an oak tree with large roots that she could lean comfortably against, she settled down to meditate.

Slowly, slowly, she expanded her range. No one nearby, but the pursuit team was about eighty miles away and heading in the opposite direction. Blessing Naruto for his reliability, she carefully focused her senses, bringing the edges of her awareness towards herself like a fisherman netting for fish.

Finally, she detected the anomaly.

Got you! she thought excitedly at her discovery. Bounding to her feet, she headed in the general direction, keeping her focus pinned fixedly on the blip in her chakra field.

"~Gotcha."

Suddenly, she was surrounded by a dozen figures in flowing black cloaks.

Shit! How had it slipped her mind that her target consisted of a duo? She was so proud that she had sensed them that the most important detail had been neglected.

Shit shit shit shit fuck! were her final thoughts before a blow to the head invited the never-ending darkness to seep into her mind.

The last thing she heard was, "I thought she was supposed to have pink hair."

"I love him! I love him!"

"Sakura-chan, please don't do this!"

"I love him! Leave me alone!"

"Sakura! Control yourself."

"You can't do this! I love him!"

"Sakura, please!"

"I love him I love him I love him…"

With a startled gasp, Sakura woke up, heavily disorientated and confused. Had she forgotten to take her pills again?

Then everything came back.

Shit, what's going on?

Calming her heartbeat down to imitate unconsciousness (a skill all medics were forced to hone), she discreetly observed her surroundings.

She was slung across a moving object, most plausibly a person, and from her vantage point, all she could see was the person's back. Her chakra sensors revealed that there were two people in the immediate vicinity, the person carrying her and another person walking alongside him. Immediately she could tell that these two people were incredibly dangerous, despite their efforts to mask most of their strength. Could it be that these were the people she was looking for?

"Wakey wakey, Pinky."

Allowing her heartbeat to return to normal, she faked a groan and craned her neck to the side to try to catch a glimpse of her captors.

"How are you holding up?" The same person who had spoken first asked, and she brightened at the familiar voice.

Finally!

"Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha, I presume?" she said, even though she knew exactly who they were. "I'm doing fine at the moment, but I'd do much better if you would set me down," she continued with (feigned) politeness. It wouldn't be good for her if she insulted them before they heard her proposal.

A chuckle caused her whole body to vibrate, but eventually she was comfortably back on two feet.

"Better not be thinking of bolting, Pinky." She growled at the nickname, but diplomacy was first and foremost on her mind, so she let it slide.

"As if," she retorted airily. "Is there anywhere we could rest for a bit? I'd like to clear some things up; after all, I don't want to have been looking for both of you for the better part of five hours for nothing."

Somehow, both missing-nin had mutually (and wordlessly) decided on a small teahouse on the edge of the Fire-River border. They seemed to be well-known frequenters, for the old lady manning the register didn't even ask for an order, merely glancing up with a questioning eyebrow at the sight of Sakura, a newcomer, and calling for an extra order of tea. As soon as they sat down, a plate of dango was set down in front of Itachi and a bowl of shrimp dumplings in front of Kisame. Three cups of tea were delivered to their table without any signal to the workers.

"Want anything to eat, Pinky?"

"No. And my hair isn't pink anymore, so you can stop calling me that." She turned pointedly away from Kisame. "I want you to take me to your leader," she said to Itachi.

Itachi's constantly stoic expression didn't change, but a glimmer of curiosity twinkled in his dark eyes. Kisame, however, nearly choked on his food. Waiting amusedly for him to swallow it down, Sakura calmly sipped the aromatic tea.

"We were sent to apprehend you," Itachi said, explaining Kisame's startled behavior. "Our mission was to confront you in the village and bring you to our base."

"But imagine our surprise when you strolled right into our midst!" Kisame had recovered quickly and was taking all the new information in stride. "So you're making our job much easier."

"Do you know why your leader was considering membership for me?" Curious, really. Yes, her name might be well known, but not for her ninja abilities.

"No, he didn't tell us, but he always has good reason." Itachi took a bite of his dango, chewing listlessly. "If you wait patiently until we return to the base, you can ask him yourself."

Suddenly, Kisame's whole torso leaned in towards Itachi, nearly shoving him off the narrow bench. "Don't take his words to heart. He's always like this–you'll get used to it," he reassured. She glanced skeptically at Itachi to see what he would say.

Itachi's face remained completely expressionless while he chewed his dango faithfully. Sakura glanced at his plate and realized that during their brief conversation he had eaten six sticks of dango and was making his way through his seventh one.

"Holy shit, you really like those, huh?" she commented, watching awed as he finished the seventh one and reached for an eighth.

"Number one rule in the Akatsuki. Don't get in the way of Itachi and his dango. And his Pocky," Kisame replied. Sakura shot him an incredulous look.

"No kidding?"

"Well. Number one rule that doesn't interfere with Leader-sama's. And also, never give Tobi candy. That's like, number one-point-five rule..."

As Kisame regaled her with many stories of the misadventures of the other members, Sakura nodded along. She'd never known that the Akatsuki had such a–how to say–carefree atmosphere. She had always imagined them as being pure evil; cruel shinobi who had a distinct lack of morals and emotions that set them apart from other species of missing-nin. However, they were shockingly similar to her former comrades, if Kisame's tales were anything to go by. She'd even go as far to say that, at this point, she'd prefer Kisame's company over anyone back in Konoha (excluding Naruto).

Maybe she'd sit back and enjoy this camaraderie for a bit, indulge herself. After all, she hadn't felt this welcomed in ages.

Luckily, revenge doesn't have a time limit.

"I am issuing an official mission. Sakura Haruno is now considered an official missing-nin. Bring her back, alive."

"Hai!" Nine voices chorused in affirmation.

Second chapter, done! Sorry it's so short, but it felt like a good place to cut it off. Third chappie will be up ASAP. Like, I'm literally writing it right now.

~UlquiSchiff

5/14/14

PS. Title of this chapter is a song by Taylor Swift. When I get further into the story, I'll upload a mix with the song/chapter titles.